Individual merchant-based affinity systems are in widespread use, as are affinity programs that are tied to a particular method of payment, such as a credit card. Examples of merchant-based affinity systems include Best Buy's Reward Zone program, Staples' Rewards program, and Barnes&Noble's Member program. Examples of affinity programs that are tied to a particular method of payment include, for example, the Membership Rewards® program of American Express. Typically, customers must sign up for each affinity program (or always use the same method of payment) and carry identification cards or key fobs for multiple programs. Also, affinity data is limited to customer purchase activities at a single merchant or through a single method of payment. Moreover, customers must share personal information with each merchant when enrolling in an affinity program, potentially subjecting the customer to unwanted spam or junk mail.
There have been attempts to provide a more universal approach to affinity programs, but those attempts have still required customers to sign up for each affinity program separately and to obtain separate identifications for each system, or they have required the merchants and retailers to give up control over their affinity programs and transaction data to another entity.